Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

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Supporting Queer Comics & Creators

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In the early days of Comic Book Herald, I’d occasionally get promotional Kickstarter emails teasing a “queer sci-fi saga” (or some such), and I’ll fully admit, I did not understand what sexuality had to do with the promotion. What did the “queerness” of this work have to do with selling me on the story and artistic vision of the comic book?

I’m not a part of the community, and there’s a lot I still don’t understand, but I see now that there’s inherent value in marginalized perspectives in story, and there’s worth in supporting the voices that aim to tell them. So many of my favorite comic books are either directly or indirectly about queer people, relationships, and community, and vast amounts of my favorite comic book creators identify as gay, lesbian, trans, bisexual or other identifiers in the LGBTQIA+ range. The simple reality is that the more queer stories and creators at the forefront of comics, the better variety of new, exciting works we get to enjoy. [Read more…] about Supporting Queer Comics & Creators

The Adventures of Obi-Wan Kenobi

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Obi-Wan Kenobi, the new Disney+ series, represents the first time the character has been in the cinematic spotlight by himself. But the vast tableau of Star Wars stories across multiple modes of media contains many previous examples in which the wise and cagey Jedi operates on his own. Below is an overview of some of the more notable offerings – both canonical and non-canonical “Legends” – as well as some Obi-Wan Kenobi fun facts, to get you ready for the new live-action series!

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The Best Comics To Read With Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness!

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Since his MCU origin in 2016, Dr. Stephen Strange has held one of the more consistent supporting roles in the Marvel Universe. Benedict Cumbermagic’s Strange plays key roles in Thor Ragnarok, Avengers Infinity War, and of course most recently, Spider-Man: No Way Home. Much like his cameo-laden Marvel Comics counterpart, stories related to multiverse-breaking magic have been held to the fire for *not* including the good Doctor (although certainly in the case of WandaVision, I’d argue it was for the right reasoning).

All of which is to say, Strange’s official movie sequel, Multiverse of Madness, directed by Spider-Man savant Sam Raimi, is central to the larger MCU and where Phase 4 will focus for the remainder through Fantastic Four. The events of Loki on Disney+ revealed the Multiverse is open for business, and there’s a multiverse of Kang the Conquerors going to war for control. “No Way Home’s” forgetting spell gone horribly wrong revealed to Strange this dangerous revelation, and now in Multiverse of Madness, the good Doctor gets to set out in the alternate realities and counter-earths of the MCU. [Read more…] about The Best Comics To Read With Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness!

The Best Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) Comics!

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[covers by Sara Pichelli & Justin Ponsor; Mashal Ahmed; and Cliff Chiang]

The world seems to slip by so fast these days—hence, why the past decade feels like two decades! (And yes, that’s the usual cliché inverted, because it’s truer!) Somehow, in 2022, it seems like Kamala Khan has always been with us and yet only a little more than eight years have passed since her January 2014 debut. Now obviously, it’s not like she’s there in the comics before 2014’s historic Marvel Now relaunch (not a reboot), but really, so much has been done to assure Marvel readers, especially those who came of age in the 2010s, that this Ms. Marvel, from a Jersey City Pakistani immigrant family and a diverse high school, is even more than just the Peter Parker of her time. Kamala is unique for a star Big Two superhero because whereas most superheroes are sped through what would realistically be their gradual, formative phase, to get them away from their families and their everyday, relatable lives and settings, to launch them into cosmic battles and world-ending dramas, Marvel has from the beginning to the present moment stewarded this character to guarantee that she is what has been all too rare in superhero comics: an authentic in-universe viewpoint for an entire generation of fans, a position she shares perhaps only with Spider-Man Miles Morales. [Read more…] about The Best Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) Comics!

Science Fiction & The X-Men, Part 1: The Golden Age Origins of Marvel’s Heroes & Mutants

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Introducing – Some Big Ideas

When Comic Book Herald EIC (Ed note: and all around genius savant bachelor) Dave Buesing asked me to look into the non-comics sci-fi connections to Jonathan Hickman’s 2019 House of X and Powers of X, I found myself facing a much larger challenge. While the Hickman era of X-Men threads in not a few outside sf tropes and influences, the tapestry itself has already been perpetually in the loom for the past 60 years. And my restless penchant for connecting parts to wholes and present to past wondered: But what sf stories were Stan and Jack reading? Where did the first superman of American comics come from? How did the notion of the born mutant become shorthand in the pulps for the outsider genius or the beautiful freak whose very existence was countercultural?

Obviously, there are endless such questions we could formulate, especially when it comes to the early years of pulp adventure and popular sf*, of which virtually no one but a handful of scholars has ready knowledge. And anyway, what does this have to do with Hickman’s X-Men at this point? Well, if you know his work going back to the start of his comics career, you’re certainly familiar with the fact that he’s always been a nut for high-concept sf; indeed, many of his influences appear to call back quite clearly to Golden Age sf classics (the 1930s and ’40s) and sundry benchmarks in the genre—even if it’s not intentional or a direct citing of specific stories. To be clear, it’s not my intention here to ever presume that any author is plagiarizing. However, I do work off the assumption that even the most astonishing creators aren’t creating ex nihilo: Everything comes from somewhere, but ultimate origins are all but impossible to trace. We are inspired by what’s in our environment, education, and experience, and even the most radical auteurs are so limited. Simply put, what this series of articles will try to track to the best of my current ability is the evolution of those tropes central to the current X-Men narrative from its earliest discernible origins in the primal soup of pulp sf, with an undeniable dash of (warped) Nietzscheanism and necessary historical and cultural context. [Read more…] about Science Fiction & The X-Men, Part 1: The Golden Age Origins of Marvel’s Heroes & Mutants